Happy Punters in Punt Club

A perfect summer’s night at Moonee Valley’s Chinese New Year meeting saw Punt Club give Pat Cannon his first city winner in front of a large, very excited group of owners.

With the Princess Park silks on full display the 4-year-old son of Equiano was too strong at the finish in the Inglis 55 Second Challenge. Ridden by Damian Lane, he hit the front 50m out and stopped the clock at 55.53 seconds.

After a brave run for a second place last Friday at the Valley, expectations for Punt Club before last night’s race were that he would improve after the solid run.

Speaking with Princess Park’s Adam Palmer, he describes Punt Club as a “tough bugger”. Out of the Keltrice mare, Seven Year Itch, Swettenham Stud purchased him as a weanling at the 2013 Great Southern Sale to be prepped for their 2014 Adelaide Yearling Sale draft. Punt Club unfortunately developed severe travel sickness and was subsequently withdrawn from the sale.

Pat Cannon commented “We didn’t think he would make it through the night, but once he came good and we got into him, we saw he had ability.

After a promising gallop, Pat was impressed. “We knew we needed to buy him, and wanted to ensure some of our loyal supporters, friends and good owners had the opportunity to be involved.”

Not without his challenges, he describes Punt Club as a lovely, genuine horse that you can do anything with. With Pat training out of Ballarat, it suits the horse perfectly, as he tends to stack on the kilos when spelled. ‘It’s a balance between keeping him fresh and not letting him put on too much weight – and the uphill track at Ballarat has certainly helped this.”

With the pattern of racing at Moonee Valley suiting, Punt Club will look to head back to the Valley in two to three weeks. The owners will certainly be happy to return as well, based on the loud winning cheers, and post race celebrations.

Swettenham would like to congratulate Princess Park and all of Punt Club’s owners - D C Legudi, P A Bower, C G Jackson, M Edgley, E J Mantinaos, K Ford, P Walker, J Neave, T G Beaton, A Donnelly, P D Bremner, G W Toomey, A P Lee, C S Purcell, Three Sheets Racing, Big Five, H A P Syndicate, VIP Punt Club & Strathmore Veterans No 1.